Steamboat Magazine Outdoors Edition 2020 Vol. 42 No. 3 by Steamboat Springs Visitors' Guide

KEEN INSIGHT. NEGOTIATION SKILLS. PERSONAL CARE.

Doug has been our Realtor® for the past 15 years, and we have bought and sold our properties as our family needs have grown and changed. He has listed our properties and sold them. He has assisted us in buying 2 previous properties as well as our most recent home purchase about a month ago. He is a long-time resident and knows every inch of Steamboat. He is honest, patient, efﬁcient, and is always prepared at every appointment. His clients are his top priority, and he always acts with their best interest in mind. Quite simply, Doug is the best! — J O H N & C A R O LY N

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 1

COURTESY MATT TREDWAY

Contents Visitors’ Guide VG 2 Welcome Letter VG 10 TOUR Scenic Drives

VG 11

Itineraries

VG 12

Wide Open Spaces Leave Your Car and Ride Safe and Sound

VG 17 VG 20 VG 22

VG 26 PLAY Tubing Dos and Don’ts

VG 27

Visit Like a Local Skateboarder Ande Burman Biking Leave No Trace Family Fun

2020 Matt Tredway scales an ice face in preparation for climbing the Moose’s Tooth, an Alaskan peak (read the full story on page 42).

DEPARTMENTS

42 | Northern Exposure

All the Colors of Nature’s Palette

Matt Tredway recounts a recent climbing expedition to the Moose’s Tooth, an Alaskan peak.

– by Matt Tredway

6 Publisher’s Note 8 Letters 12 Genuine Steamboat

The wild horses of Sand Wash Basin

26 Food & Drink

– by Dan Greeson

Steamboat Food & Wine Festival

Will voters restore the call of the wild?

– by Jennie Lay

62 | Connecting People to the Land

Yampatika unveils its new Land Legacy Series’ hikes

– by Dan Greeson

VG 38

Eleanor Bliss

VG 39

Visit Like a Local Nurse Amanda Castle Give Back to the ‘Boat Virtual Tours

VG 40 VG 42 VG 43

DIRECTORY VG 44 Activities VG 45 Where to Worship VG 47 Dining VG 50 Lodging VG 52 Outdoors VG 55 Real Estate VG 56 Services VG 59 Shopping VG 60 City Map VG 62 Historic Walking Tour VG 64 Reasons to Return

Laura the Butcher – by Suzi Mitchell 30 History

Steamboat’s oldest restaurant buildings 32 Art

Artist Brian Bonebrake – by Suzi Mitchell The Art of the Quilt 38 Media

Books, films and podcasts for turbulent times – by Jennie Lay 64 Why Stop at the Last Page?

Ski Town Media’s online offerings 2 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

VG 38 REVIVE Breweries & Distilleries

Northwest Colorado coal’s final days – by Alesha Damerville & Dan Greeson

VG 30 VG 32 VG 34

20 Environment

50 | Untamed

54 | Return of the Wolf

VG 28

Yellowstone National Park, where the reintroduction of wolves in 1995 has changed the ecosystem. Photo by Jim Kruger/iStock by Getty Images

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OUTDOORS 2020 – Volume 42, Number 3 PUBLISHER Deborah Olsen EDITOR Dan Greeson SALES DIRECTOR Danielle Lyn Hubler ART DIRECTOR Melissa VanArsdale DIGITAL DIRECTOR Alesha Damerville DIGITAL MANAGER Rachel Miller MEDIA EDITOR Jennie Lay PROOFREADER Christina Freeman CONTRIBUTORS Suzi Mitchell Matt Tredway PHOTOGRAPHERS Chris Becea Travis Carpenter Jeff Hall Thomas D. Mangelsen Nadja Rider Jim Steinberg Karen Vail

Steamboat Magazine is published by Ski Town Media, Inc. The Ski Season 2020-21 edition will be published in October 2020. For advertising rates and subscription information contact info@SteamboatMagazine.com. Steamboat Magazine, P.O. Box 880616, Steamboat Springs, CO 80488. Phone: 970-871-9413. Subscribe: SteamboatMagazine.com Single copy mailed first-class $7.50. No portion of the contents of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. © 2020 Ski Town Media, Inc. All rights reserved – ISSN 2164-4055. 4 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 5

Publisher’s Note

Editorial Advisory Board Amy Charity Steamboat Cycling Community

Scott Engelman Carl’s Tavern and Truffle Pig

Sarah Floyd Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club

Betse Grassby Steamboat Art Museum

Larry Mashaw The Resort Group

Marta Miskolczy Steamboat Mountain School

Mike Poirot Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.

Lisa Popovich MainStreet Steamboat

Lindsey Reznicek Yampa Valley Medical Center

Mara McManus Rhodes Soda Mountain Construction

Ulrich Salzgeber Steamboat Springs Board of Realtors

Ray Selbe Selbe Farms

Cathy Wiedemer First Pitch Communications

The masked staff of Steamboat Magazine outside of Creekside Cafe.

Masking for a Friend Three things give Steamboat Springs residents a sense of self-righteousness.

1. Taking our recycling to Waste Management and sorting it into the appropriate bins 2. Cleaning up after our dogs and depositing those little green bags in the oh-so-odiferous dumpster at the dog park 3. Wearing our COVID masks When the ‘Boat embraces a cause, it’s all hands on deck. We don’t agree on everything in Steamboat – some days, I don’t think we agree on much at all. But when it comes to the COVID-era, we proved once again that we are, indeed, the Little Town That Could. It has been an honor to serve on the Steamboat Springs Chamber board for the past year and although it has been a tough one, watching the community leaders work together has been like watching the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra come to life under the hands of conductor Ernest Richardson. For a while, the Chamber board’s monthly meetings at Rex’s morphed into biweekly Zoom meetings during which representatives from at least a dozen sectors of the community, ranging from real estate to main street, put aside their own industries’ needs to work together for the greater good. I don’t know about other towns – maybe the same thing happened there, or maybe it was every man for himself. But in Steamboat, when one person was down, another extended a hand to lift him up. Financiers kept anything but bankers’ hours as they worked 24/7 to arrange small business loans. If the Yampa Valley received a disproportionate amount of federal disaster money, in all likelihood it is because local bankers saw the faces of their clients in their minds’ eyes as they powered through website overloads, constantly shifting rules and rolling deadlines. The ice rink stood ready to do double-duty as a field hospital, and the bowling alley, which is so much more than its name would imply (think gourmet cuisine and patio BBQs), teamed up with local businesses to provide free nightly meals to unemployed workers in a program appropriately dubbed “Family Bowl.” We pulled each other out of the dark rabbit holes we started to go down in our early isolation. With all the time on our hands, we experienced a creative renaissance that had residents pulling old guitars out of the attic, trying new color palettes, and writing that novel we’d always planned to start one day. We found ourselves asking, “What can I do for you?” You guys need masks? We’ll make so many of them that we will have extras to ship to other communities in need. Just be sure that, so long as it’s mandated by local ordinance, you wear one! And not just over your chin. Stay strong,

6 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

DREAM IT. BUILD IT. STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 7

Letters Banking on Gratitude

Thank you for dropping off the latest issue of Steamboat Magazine (Steamboat Magazine Home Edition 2020). Another fabulous issue. Thanks also for the kind shout-out on page 79 and quote in the story, “Resilient,” on page 62. I love your magazine and I always marvel at the fantastic pictures and content you come up with each and every year. Congrats on another beautiful edition. – PJ Wharton, president and CEO, Yampa Valley Bank Publisher’s Note: A special thank-you to Yampa Valley Bank for making Steamboat Magazine possible.

Words of Positivity

The past couple months sure have been difficult to predict. However, I hope you’ve still enjoyed yourselves and also found some projects to work on. Sometimes it’s tough to identify and connect pain with progress, but in this instance, I truly believe they are growing pains for our nation and the world as a whole. Regardless, I just wanted to thank you for all your support over the years. It has been six or seven years since my first published image within Steamboat Magazine, and it sure has been fun to grow and progress with you and your team! Stay positive and I’ll see you soon! – Noah Wetzel, photographer

UpLifting Feedback

like Steamboat Magazine and Walgreens. Their willingness to step up, help encourage donations and reach different audiences on our behalf allows our team to provide nutritious food to children, individuals, families and seniors. – Cary Rentola, director of development and marketing, LiftUp Routt County, on the LiftUp food drive that Steamboat Magazine and Walgreens set up during the coronavirus pandemic

Keeping Steamboat Fed

When I was struggling mentally with the burden of lost income, stress and uncertainty about the future, Snow Bowl provided more than just outstanding meals with their Family Bowl meal program. Seeing the staff of Snow Bowl working so hard each day with care and compassion for the people of our community gave me a sense of pride, and a feeling of relief that we are all in this together. In a time with no social interaction, having friendly, familiar faces like Tony Counts greet you with a warm meal and some positive words of encouragement brightened my day. Snow Bowl provided a little bit of normalcy and helped inspire me to push forward and not give up hope. – Denton Turner, Steamboat Springs

To Send Letters to the Editor:

Email: Dan@SteamboatMagazine.com U.S. mail: P.O. Box 880616, Steamboat Springs, CO 80488

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Genuine Steamboat

All the Colors of

Nature’s Palette

“The Earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson If you, like many, have been struck by the Yampa Valley curse – coming for winter, then staying for summer – wildflowers may have something to do with that. When Steamboat Springs’ summer is in full bloom, wildflowers of all kinds engulf the landscape. More than 100 varieties are found in the Yampa Valley, from mule’s ear’s flash of yellow to the fiery hues of Indian paintbrush. Other local varieties include lupine, pink geranium, wild sweet pea, larkspur and columbine. Everyone’s a photographer when they find themselves among the flowers; Steamboat Magazine photographers plucked their favorite wildflower shots from their collections for this edition of Genuine Steamboat. 12 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

Fireweed on the shores of Dumont Lake | Photo by Jeff Hall

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 13

Genuine Steamboat

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Patches of swamp laurel grow by Dome Peak. | Photo by Karen Vail

Meadow arnica, Indian paintbrush and arrowleaf senecio near Mica Lake | Photo by Karen Vail

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 15

Genuine Steamboat

Colorado’s state flower, the columbine | Photo by Chris Becea

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Sagebrush buttercup grows out of a fallen tree near Mad Creek barn. | Photo by Karen Vail

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 17

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Environment

Steam rises from the Craig Station power plant, which is slated to be fully shut down by 2030.

20 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

Closing Time

| BY ALESHA DAMERVILLE AND DAN GREESON

JIM STEINBERG

Change can be a painful process. Since the announcement of the impending closure of the Craig Station power plant in Craig, mixed feelings have pervaded the Northwest Colorado community.

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 21

Many Northwest Colorado families are tied to the coal industry, some of them for generations. It’s how they keep food on the table, buy dance shoes or sports gear for their kids and pay their mortgages. The announcement of the closure has left many of these families wondering what their future holds. “When we first got the news, it was kind of devastating to everybody,” says Dan Dunning, a technical analyst who has worked at Colowyo Mine for 14 years. Along with Trapper Mine, Colowyo is a major coal supplier for Craig Station. “Routt is a coal and ag county,” says Diane Mitsch Bush, who has served on the county planning commission, as a Routt County commissioner and as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives. She has worked directly with coal companies and coal miners, and closely observed the development of the Craig Station power plant in neighboring Moffat County. “From day one, the power plant provided really good jobs to locals,” she says. Many of these jobs will be lost with the closure of the Craig Station. “Lots of people here have no (higher) education – they came directly from high school to the mine,” Dunning explains. “You can’t go from here to somewhere like Walmart and expect to be paid the same amount. When you tell someone you want to work for their company, the first question out of their mouth is, ‘What kind of education do you have?’” As a technical analyst for Colowyo Mine, Dunning has built up years of specialized experience that he says won’t easily translate to new industries. “I’m darn good at the technical side, but when the mine shuts down, I’m not going to be able to get a job again. I’ve looked at tech jobs outside of mining, but they pay a quarter of what I’m making now.” “We’re less affected by the loss of electricity and more affected by the loss of jobs,” Mitsch Bush says. “I would like to see the U.S. Congress pass legislation to help fund a just transition. These are jobs that are going away because of market changes.” “The people of our communities have no real power, so one of the ideas that has been floating around is a series of programs to attract new kinds of manufacturing industries to Northwest Colorado,” Mitsch Bush adds. “There are many places in the country where this similar situation is happening – because of market changes, factories, coal mines, power plants and steel plants are closing down. It’s a large-scale economic issue.” Dunning agrees that these closures are a large-scale issue, but he doesn’t share Mitsch Bush’s optimism. “It’s a devastating impact,” he says. “We are the sole support for the Craig community in taxes. They’ll lose millions a year in taxes alone. People from all over the place work here; it will affect lots of different communities and lots of businesses that depend on the coal industry. Here you’ve got around 900 plant/ mine employees, plus their families, plus small businesses, plus their families. This also puts a lot more stress on the power grid.” Mitsch Bush suggest that the federal government could help in several ways. “The communities in Hayden and Craig will be affected,” she says. “Grants and incentives for the communities to rebuild are STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 21

Environment

JIM STEINBERG

Remembering DeSo for Over 20 Years

The first of Craig Station’s three units is expected to close by 2025.

gentle mountain that rises above the Yampa Valley

it will always be my favorite area, over France, Utah and Cali. Groves of spaced aspens and powerful pines

the tree skiing is the best in the world and seemingly all mine. I know the stashes that this powder-hungry mountain holds, locals protect their pow making outsiders lucky if they are told. Surprisingly steep as you enter Fish Creek this is the dankest turnin’ out of any peak. Powder days bless Mt. Werner nearly every night leaving powder junkies in a state of complete delight. Ghost trees hide as you round the top, their clean white appearance will make you stop. For those who love the fluff, head for The Boat expecting to get enough. Phat airs are littered throughout the terrain making a pitch with pow completely insane! I can’t get enough of carvin’ at this place, I’d take a day here over a walk in space.

— by Justin DeSorrento February 5, 1977 - July 17, 1997

Please Visit The DeSo Foundation Web Site: www.DeSoFoundation.org 22 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

necessary. These are robust communities with great leadership in both their chambers and city councils, and they could help themselves change into a 21st-century economy. One kind of business they could attract is outdoor manufacturing, particularly around the things people love to do there.” Routt County District III Commissioner Beth Melton is on the Just Transition Advisory Committee with Ray Beck, district II commissioner for Moffat County. The committee’s goal is to offer workers aid throughout this period of change. “I’ve been looking at the governmental impacts, the tax impacts,” Melton says. “The jobs and businesses are really important, but it’s not just about jobs but also quality of life for the residents.” “This transition is happening,” Melton adds. “There are people who agree and disagree, but regardless, it’s happening. We need to work together as a community to see how we can help Routt County and Moffat County be successful and have continued vitality in these communities moving forward.” Dunning notes that he and many of his fellow workers aren’t against switching to alternative energy, but that trying to change too fast could be disastrous. “We do understand the environmental impact, and we’ve been held to higher environmental standards than people think,” he says. “The solar power that it would take to replace Craig Station would be about the size of Craig. I do believe alternative energy can replace the energy from coal, but I don’t think we’re there yet technologically. Alternative energies as they are now have their own negative effects on the environment.” Times are changing, and Northwest Colorado is following suit. While the change will be difficult, new opportunities and industries may appear over the horizon. The trick will be not to leave the old industry workers and their families behind.

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9 70 . 879. 810 0 | S T E A M B O A T S I R . C O M STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 25

Food & Drink COURTESY LAURA POSIAK

Fish Creek Falls awaits the return of summer visitors.

COURTESY LAURA POSIAK

Laura Posiak, aka “Laura the Butcher”

| BY SUZI MITCHELL

Laura the Butcher

On the upper floor of the Jace Romick Gallery, a butcher is carving up half of a pig. The crowd around her is quiet for little over 10 minutes before the silence is broken by a wave of questions. The butcher is a statuesque Canadian who looks more like she belongs on a Vogue cover than holding a butchery demonstration at the Steamboat Food & Wine Festival. “There is a stigma about what a butcher is and what they look like,” says Laura Posiak, or Laura the Butcher, as she is known. “I want to change that and get people really excited about eating all kinds of meat cuts.” She has been causing a stir in her newfound home of Steamboat Springs, where her butchering skills and appreciation for ethical meat harvesting have garnered considerable attention. Last fall she won the Exceptional Newcomer-Signature Dish Award at the Colorado Restaurant and Bar Show, hosted annually by the Colorado Restaurant Association. At the time she was working for Mambo Italiano. Posiak’s culinary journey is peppered with the cultural influences she garnered from hands-on experience. She left rural Ontario as a teen when her family moved to the melting pot of New York City. She gained a Bachelor of Culinary Arts and Service Management Cum Laude from Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks, then switched coasts to work in celebrated kitchens in San Francisco. It was there she opted to switch from being the cook to the cultivator. Posiak set off on a food-source-fueled exploration of both hemispheres to work and live on farms and learn about the cultural nuances from place to place. She found her calling

26 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

One of Laura Posiak’s artfully presented food platters overflows with a selection of meats, cheeses and other treats.

thanks to a butcher in a small village outside Parma. “I learned so much there about animal preparation, harvesting, nose-to-tail butchery and the Italian art of curing meat,” she says. Posiak looks at meat as a delicacy. She is adamant that animals can be raised well and harvested with respect. Her sustainable practices also mean little waste. She turns off-cuts into sausages, pâtés and mousses. Back in Maine, she founded MeatSkool, an educative arm of her private butchery service. “I saw an opportunity to help educate people about what is right about the meat industry,” she says. “For me, being a butcher is a chance to bring respect and excitement back into that industry.” That excitement is mutual in the Yampa Valley, where she and husband, Dustin, settled a year ago. Laura the Butcher found likeminded producers in the agriculture-rich community. “I have the chance to help showcase the incredible mix of suppliers we have here,” she says. Colorado Mountain College has embraced Posiak as an instructor, and she teaches classes from sausage-making to deboning chickens. She is teaching a year-long meat class at the Boys and Girls Club, in addition to her private butchery service and catering. Posiak’s signature platters, which spill with the likes of Iberico chorizo, jamon Serrano, 12-month Manchego cheese, teardrop peppers and persimmons, come on a personalized wood board artfully wrapped in brown paper and string with a sprig of rosemary. “I want to shape how people see meat and bring new ways of enjoying meat into their lives,” she says. To Posiak, butchery is an art form that has lost its way in a commercialized industry. Platter by platter, she hopes to change that perception from a place partly founded on farming.

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Better with Age Nicole Jarman’s passion shines through when the culinary arts come up in conversation.

Jarman, owner of HobNob Events and showrunner of the Steamboat Food & Wine Festival, has a 15-year history of eventplanning and nurturing a sense of community. She previously worked on the U.S. Pro Challenge and has produced more than 1200 Colorado events, but she approaches the Food & Wine Festival with fresh excitement. The Food & Wine Festival’s previous iteration, the Steamboat Wine Festival, had taken a year off before Jarman and the team at HobNob took the reins and reignited it in 2019. “We tried to take into account a lot of the feedback that we heard about the last iteration of the festival,” she says. “In order to make the festival more restaurant-friendly, we came up with a new model that we hoped would benefit everyone.” The inaugural Food & Wine Festival in 2019 included demonstrations in Gondola Square, dinners hosted by master sommeliers, wine makers and top-level chefs, brunches, seminars and various classes. As the name change would imply, Jarman wanted to incorporate the food side of dining much more in the new festival. “At the big tasting at the Grand, it was a 1:1 food-to-wine ratio,” Jarman says. The chosen foods, she explains, were coordinated through the Community Agriculture Alliance so that everyone involved was conscious of where the food came from. “We were very focused on food integrity,” Jarman adds. In addition to incorporating more foods, the new iteration of Wine Fest delves into every nook and cranny of the culinary experience. “We had this salt-of-the-earth, artisan theme we were going after, so we featured things like knife-forging demonstrations,” Jarman says. Incorporating feedback from the previous festival, Jarman strove to find balance between bringing in outside talent and utilizing the culinary experts of Steamboat. “It goes two ways,” 28 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

COURTESY STEAMBOAT FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL/ BRENT ANDECK PHOTOGRAPHY

COURTESY STEAMBOAT FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL

Food & Drink

The Return of the Steamboat Food & Wine Festival she explains. “We want events to be accessible to people in town, and supporting the town, but we also want to bring people into town who wouldn’t normally be here.” This balance resulted in a huge success. For this year’s festival, slated for Thursday-Sunday, Oct. 1-4, Jarman hopes to expand on the themes of the 2019 festival. “We’re looking to have a bigger emphasis on local food,” Jarman says. In addition, the Food & Wine Festival will increase the number of small, low-key events – keeping the atmosphere relaxed and non-pretentious. The 2020 festival features Alex Seidel, the award-winning chef of Denver’s Mercantile Dining & Provisions in Union Station and Fruition, and Hosea Rosenberg, executive chef and owner of the acclaimed Boulder restaurant Blackbelly, among many other culinary experts. Other highlights this year include a film showing and wine tasting at the Chief Theater, interactive seminars on Spanish wines, cooking with spices, cocktails and bitters, a master class on the wine terroirs of Oregon and the iconic Grand Tasting event in Gondola Square. “We’d really like to spark a year-round conversation about the wines,” Jarman says. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, Jarman emphasizes that this is the perfect time to support chefs, vineyards and other small businesses reeling economically. “We want to help everyone be successful,” she says. For safety purposes, this year’s festival features smaller events and greater distance between attendees. The Steamboat Food & Wine Festival also has a flexible cancellation policy to provide extra peace-of-mind. Wine Festival organizers plan to follow all CDC guidelines, as well as those of the International Festivals and Events Association and the state and local health departments.

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See the full schedule of Steamboat Food & Wine Festival events at SteamboatMagazine.com

inspired

innovative

timeless

A R CHI TE C TUR E | PLANNING | INTERIORS T RU C KE E, C A • S TEAM B OAT S P R I N G S, CO • 530. 214. 8896 • W STEAMBOAT W W. KSAAR C H.| CO M 2020 | 29 MAGAZINE OUTDOORS

History

Restaurant Buildings with History

These five restaurants – and the buildings that house them – have stood the test of time in Steamboat Springs.

Harwigs & L’Apogée

The building that houses Harwigs & L’Apogée was built in 1886, making it one of the oldest structures in Steamboat Springs. It served as a drug store at the turn of the century, then became a storefront for “Harwigs Saddlery and Western Wear” in 1916. According to local legend, the couple who owned the store, Charlie and Arta Lee, haunt the building today. When Jamie Jennie visited Steamboat in 1975 as a 25-year-old, he decided to stay and open the restaurant “L’Apogée,” in the Harwigs building, which later became Harwigs & L’Apogée. The restaurant contains the only wine cellar in Steamboat and an award-winning wine list.

The Laundry

The Laundry can be found in the historic Soda Creek Building, which was home to the Steamboat Laundry from 1910-1977. It’s a relic of a time when Steamboat was developing commercially, and the building expanded in 1920 due to Steamboat’s rapid growth. The Laundry has preserved pieces of the building’s industrial atmosphere while creating a welcoming and warm dining experience. Shared plates, smoked meats and locally grown and sourced produce are among this restaurant’s specialties.

Café Diva

Café Diva has been providing a fine dining experience in the heart of the Mountain Village for 22 years, starting out as a wine bar. It has since evolved into a one-of-a-kind dining experience, but still has over 275 wine options to pair with the menu. Chef 30 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

SIDNEY PETERSON/SKI TOWN MEDIA

COURTESY TREAD OF PIONEERS MUSEUM

The 911 Lincoln Ave. building, which is now home to Harwigs & L’Apogée, opened in 1886 as a drugstore and served for a brief time as a tack shop before being purchased by the Harwig family in 1916.

Kate Van Rensselaer Rench originally started off in the field of sculpture and ceramics, and her art background is on full display with each dish she creates.

Mazzola’s Italian Restaurant

The building that now houses Mazzola’s was constructed as the The Harwigs building as it appears today New Bristol Hotel in 1948. Mazzola’s, a local staple since opening in 1970, moved into the New Bristol building in the mid-’90s, and its bright red awning has become a well-known sight in downtown Steamboat Springs.

Besamé

This Latin restaurant is a relative newcomer to Steamboat Springs, but the building itself has been around for many decades. Before becoming Besamé, it was the Cantina, a Mexican restaurant which opened in 1973 and served as a popular destination for Winter Carnival attendees and Howelsen Hill skiers. Before that, the building housed a bar called Der Steinkeller.

N E W S TAT E - O F - T H E - A R T C L I N I C , I M AG I N G A N D S U R G E RY C E N T E R

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Art

A Bold Move | BY SUZI MITCHELL

COURTESY DUSTIN POSIAK-TRIDER

Beneath an unruly mass of graying hair is the mind of an artistic genius that sees art in the unlikeliest of subjects. On a worktable littered with repurposed food cans and more paint brushes than an art supply shop, Brian Bonebrake mixes neon powders with linseed oil to color his latest depiction of a popsicle in his trademark electric hues.

Brian Bonebrake

In his studio on Pine Street in downtown Steamboat Springs, the longtime artist wields an oversized palette knife, more akin to icing huge cakes than smearing paint on canvas. “Art is art, no matter what,” he says. Much of his work is colossal. His passion to push the boundaries of realism is a reflection of his unorthodox approach to mainstream life. Bonebrake is a newcomer to Steamboat, but the former ski racer is no stranger to the Yampa Valley. He started life in Cleveland, Ohio, before moving to Denver in middle school in the ‘70s. On weekends, he rode the ski train to Winter Park and competed as a member of the Eskimo Ski Club. Back then, he didn’t have such a profound appreciation for Steamboat. It was a different story when he and his wife started looking for a place to raise their two teenage daughters. Pre-kids, life was chaotic. Bonebrake took eight years to complete college. He skied on the pro tour in Europe, working in ski shops in winters and studying art once the snow melted. He holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the Art Institute of Chicago – not bad for a rebel who chose defiance over dedication in high school. In his latter school years, Bonebrake opened The Red Trike Gallery in an impoverished part of Chicago. Jim Lutes, an acclaimed artist who happened to be Bonebrake’s mentor and tutor, leant him a painting for the opening. “He told me, ‘If the building burns down, you’ll never be able to replace it,’” Bonebrake says with a wry grin. The building didn’t burn down, hundreds came to the show, and it was the start of a successful career. 32 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

Brian Bonebrake, “Popsicle #27,” oil on canvas, 48 x 60

Bonebrake’s following ranges from the Wrigley family to the Sara Lee Corporation. He has painted everything from murals and television stage sets to pet and athlete portraits. Bonebrake’s studio and gallery moved to a disused meat freezer and warehouse in an up-and-coming part of Chicago. He remodeled the three-story building with whimsy, which afforded him a giant canvas for experimentation. He dabbled in metalwork, sculpture and materials swathed in lashings of color. The front door of the live/work space saw as much use as a carousel in a fairground. After several years of raising their toddlers in the hustle and bustle of the city, the family rented out the space and moved west to Washington. Eventually the mountains came calling and Bonebrake opted to swap the sea for the snow. “I wanted the girls to experience some of what I did as a kid, this great big playground to go and have fun in,” he says. Now Bonebrake balances his time in the studio with shuttling kids to ski races. His subject matter has morphed with his surroundings, and giant portraits of recognizable Olympians hang among the popsicles. Recent works fill large walls in the Jace Romick Gallery on Lincoln Avenue. Romick, a former ski competitor of Bonebrake’s, is now a buddy in the art world. Bonebrake has found himself at home in Steamboat. He divides his time between powders – the type he mixes into paint, and the type he skis in. He’s back to pushing boundaries, which is exactly how he likes it.

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 33

Art

David Taylor, “Marmalade’s First Snow,” quilt, 47 x 35

The Art of the Quilt Six years ago, David Taylor’s world exploded. Literally. In 2014, Taylor was established in his field, having gained national renown as a fabric artist. He was in Illinois speaking at a quilters’ convention when word reached him that there had been a gas explosion and fire at his home in Steamboat Springs. Nearly all of his works in progress, plus hundreds of yards of fabric, had been reduced to ashes. Local quilters salvaged what scraps they could from the rubble, taking them to their homes and washing them for him. Meanwhile, he spent the next nine months couch-surfing with friends. Ultimately, he left Colorado and returned to his home state of New Hampshire, where he lives in a 195-year-old house. Although the move back East was part of the healing process, 34 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

Taylor says he still misses Steamboat and hopes one day to return. His work made it back to the ‘Boat ahead of him. The current exhibit at Steamboat Art Museum, “The Art of the Quilt,” showcases his quilts, along with those of three fellow quilters: Denise Labadie, Jackie Grimaldi and Madeleine Vail. “My Fractured Life,” a self-portrait, is among the most impactful pieces in the exhibit. Made from scraps from the fire, it employs a traditional log cabin pattern, within which one can see Taylor’s familiar blue eyes. “I had to find a way to use up a lot of fabric,” Taylor says. “It slowly evolved from a traditional pieced project – that one took two years, from 2017 to 2019. I just didn’t want to be in the studio. I had to work my way through that wall. I had to get that piece completed. It’s not my best piece; the work is sloppy, but

David Taylor, “Sally at the Window,” quilt, 40 x 51. This piece was the 2006 Master Award Winner for the International Quilt Association.

it’s an interesting way to manipulate the fabric in a radiating pattern, exploding like the fire.” What was originally planned as a retrospective of Taylor’s work morphed into something far beyond that, thanks in part to the COVID-19 situation. With his entire speaking schedule cancelled, Taylor was able to complete new pieces for the exhibit, which are on display alongside two of his most awarded works: “Beneath My Wing” and “Sally at the Window,” both of which earned him Master Awards at the World of Beauty Quilt Contest presented by the International Quilt Association. Works by Madeleine Vail, whom Taylor credits wholeheartedly as his mentor, and her quilting partner, Jackie Grimaldi, are also featured in the exhibit. While each of the three has a distinctive style, they share one thing in common: exquisite artistic ability and superior craftsmanship. Among the works by Vail and Grimaldi is their latest piece, “Folk Art Floral,” an explosion of color that is at once traditional and distinctive. The “stone” quilts of Colorado artist Denise Labadie serve as a counterpoint to Vail and Grimaldi’s styles. Inspired by

Join us on the patio for BBQ this summer!

2090 Snow Bowl Plaza STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 35

Art

Abby Jensen Photography

Jackie Grimaldi and Madeleine Vail, “Yampa Valley Memories,” quilt, 79 x 79

the legendary rock formations of Ireland, these contemporary quilts are a testimony to the versatility of the medium. Displayed against the historic walls of the Steamboat Art Museum, the quilts convey a certain sanctity when viewers enter the building. Altogether, the current SAM exhibit is a study in contrasts and a lesson in the versatility of fabric art.

A Testament to Community

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. –Albert Einstein Images available for purchase

Gallery: Pine Moon Fine Art 117 9th St., Steamboat Springs, Colorado 970-879-2787 • www.jensen-photography.com 36 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

“Organic,” “serendipitous” and “spontaneous” are among the adjectives Steamboat Art Museum executive director Betse Grassby uses to describe the exhibit in the Cole Verploeg Youth Gallery that complements “The Art of the Quilt.” With the chaos of the COVID Stay-atHome orders, SAM’s staff was not sure how the educational component of the quilt exhibit would come together. And then it took on a life of its own. Longtime locals dug out quilts from their closets, unearthed family heirlooms that traveled west with pioneers, and told tales of their own quilting days. Graduating seniors contributed squares to make a quilt honoring Steamboat Springs High School’s class of 2020, and the Chamber loaned SAM hand-painted quilting squares that had originally been created for the city’s centennial celebration in 2000. In times like these, locals yearn for a sense of warmth, tradition and community, and although “The Art of the Quilt” was planned long before COVID became a household word, the timing could not have been better for an exhibit that is so genuinely Steamboat.

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Media

THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE GETS CREATIVE…AND WOKE | BY JENNIE LAY

TRAVIS CARPENTER

A Corona Awakening

If you’ve been fortunate to remain healthy, consider the great 2020 pause a once-in-a-lifetime reprieve. During these months, we’ve gained smaller, more manageable schedules; deeper opportunities for personal focus; global culture at our doorsteps; streaming infusions of thoughtful ideas and a spark of commitment to realign community priorities. Humans were stopped in our tracks and forced to examine our lives, our environment and how we treat one another. Many of us realized there’s alternative work to be done – more than showing up at a job site or the cubicle. Nothing is as it was – neither the toil, nor the fun. As we continue without concerts, camps and far-flung vacations that kept us incessantly occupied this time last year, a rich media landscape bridges the gap. When film, literary and music festivals went virtual, the playing field leveled for rural folks like us in Steamboat – at least until a vaccine again locks away the world’s cultural and educational riches in distant venues. From our Yampa Valley living rooms, we’ve attended full seasons of the world’s finest opera and dance companies, watched first-run documentaries we’re usually last to see, and grooved out at more Phish and Dead & Company concerts than most can afford to attend in a decade. Behind that crush of newfangled content, a constant flow of books, podcasts and in-depth reporting never flinched. Despite all that has been lost, this is a moment of rare abundance. Perhaps coronavirus is fostering a renaissance. This summer, lead your curiosity to science, politics, art and culture as you read, listen, watch and wrap your mind around new ideas about everything from public health to social justice, to wild Colorado wolves. 38 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

Protestors gather on the Routt County Courthouse lawn in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

READ

No matter your penchant for paper, tablet or audio, these are some of the best books to illuminate current events unfolding globally and locally right now.

Black Lives Matter

COURTESY STEPHEN VOSS

The coronavirus has served up tough challenges. By contrast, it has bestowed upon us rare bounties of access and time.

Ibram X. Kendi

“How to Be Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds “Antiracist Baby” by Ibram X. Kendi

Bud Werner Memorial Library announces the One Book Steamboat community read for 2020 – except this year, it’s three books designed for whole families to engage in the conversation. Together, the community is invited to read the work of author, historian and Boston University Center for Antiracism Research founding director Ibram X. Kendi. Kendi’s bestselling book, “How to be Anti-Racist,” is about how we can actively transform racial justice in our community and our country. For those who aim to dig deeper, Kendi’s book “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” won the National Book Award, and it serves as a foundational work for understanding how and why we got to this juncture. The library will host facilitated dialogues about “How to be Anti-Racist,” along with films and other free virtual community events designed to spur understanding and action around the community read. Two of Kendi’s other books are featured as companion reads, making this conversation accessible to all ages. Read Kendi’s young adult remix, “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” co-written with award-winning YA author and poet Jason Reynolds. Dive in with your littlest ones to his new picture book, “Antiracist Baby” – because you’re never too young to start being antiracist. www.steamboatlibrary.org/events/one-book-steamboat Bonus! The library has built valuable resource lists for further reading, discovery and action, available on the One Book Steamboat web pages. In addition, the library has 30 hard copies of “How to Be Antiracist” in local circulation (free with your library card), and is offering unlimited, simultaneous user check-outs in both ebook and e-audio book formats via Overdrive. “Antiracist Baby” is also available without check-out limits on the digital platform.

A Perfect Pandemic Pairing

“The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris” by Mark Honigsbaum & “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic” by David Quammen

Two venerable science writers from opposite sides of the Atlantic have spent decades plumbing the depths of scientific literature to research global contagion. Mark Honigsbaum is a medical historian who specializes in the history and science of infectious disease. David Quammen is a contributing writer for National Geographic, threetime National Magazine Award winner and past Literary Sojourn author. As top-notch science communicators, they’ve honed primary sources, a complex body of technical literature, and remote field reporting to write digestible recaps laden with rich storytelling. If the trajectory of conflicting news has proven anything during the unfolding of our current pandemic, it’s that theirs is an important and powerful job. Honigsbaum and Quammen offer deeper context about all things pandemic, because the number-one takeaway from these insightful books is that today’s predicament was predictable. Dive in to both “Spillover” and “The Pandemic Century” without trepidation – they make outstanding companion reads. Honigsbaum and Quammen instill confidence behind a daily news cycle that’s making our heads spin. Their books arm you with knowledge, history and a deep appreciation not only for science, but how science gets done despite insurmountable odds of discovery, egos, prizes, politics and the very real human toll of horrific diseases.

Bonus! In June, Bud Werner Library hosted a live author talk with Quammen and Honigsbaum, talking about everything from bats to pandemic healthcare disparities, the emergence of coronaviruses and comparative national responses. Their conversation was recorded, and it’s available to watch for a limited time at www.crowdcast.io/e/quammen-honigsbaum-bwml.

November Election Prep

“American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West” by Nate Blakeslee

The only way to finish “American Wolf” is with a gritty howl of appreciation. This is thrilling nature writing that’s destined to become an American classic. Author Nate Blakeslee tells a gripping tale about Yellowstone’s wolves that’s equal parts science, adventure and Wild West drama. If you’re looking for well-rounded perspective on living with this controversial carnivore, look no further. Shallow “good vs. evil” narratives dishonor the depth of the wolf debate, and Blakeslee shows us something more complicated, and more meaningful. Get inside the heads of outfitters, game wardens, sheep and cattle ranchers, biologists, park rangers, politicians, judges, lawyers and devoted wolf watchers. Share their triumphs and frustrations. And, gleaned from decades of intimate and daily detailed observations, be swept away as you roam the Lamar Valley environs like a wolf.

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 39

Reason to Visit Steamboat -

Media

Gallery 89

COURTESY JIM HURST/PUBLIC TRUST

Gregory Block “Sacred Geometry” | Oil

Spencer Shaver and Hal Herring paddle through the threatened Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota.

WATCH

David Marshal “Track X” | Aluminum/Brass

“Public Trust”: America’s must-see nature film This (public) land was made for you and me… and David Garrett Byars’ new feature documentary, “Public Trust,” stands firm in illuminating that fact. The film made its Colorado debut this spring at Mountainfilm, winning the Audience Award and launching its sweeping imagery and powerful Native, whistleblower and journalistic voices into the forefront of an election year that could be pivotal for America’s 640 million acres of public land. Powerful forces are deciding how environmentally and culturally significant landscapes in the public domain will (or won’t) be preserved, and this storytelling effort showcases poignant conflicts of interest in Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness and Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Byars’ film makes an urgent call for action. He shows how public land engagement is essential to our democracy, whether you’ve got a national park at your back door or you’re still dreaming of visiting one someday. “Public Trust” is available to watch for free starting Sept. 25 at www.patagonia.com.

LISTEN

Summer hikes are idyllic opportunities to tune out and tune in to new podcasts. Here are one great new picks from a sea of golden listening opportunities – available wherever you get your podcasts.

Kathryn Fresques “Purple Canyon“ | Oil

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Unlocking Us Everybody could use a little Brené Brown right now. Her brand-new podcast was supposed to launch with a live splash during SXSW. When the festival didn’t happen, she started producing her new pet project at home in quarantine, in what she calls our shared “cringy moment.” Brown is vulnerable, as we’ve come to expect. But she’s also digging wider and deeper than we’ve heard her before. Her wise and humble conversations with social justice changemakers including Tarana Burke, Ibram X. Kendi and Austin Channing Brown are exactly what your earbuds need right now. brenebrown.com/unlockingus

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Read the full selection of summer media picks at SteamboatMagazine.com

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o N rthern

Matt Tredway and Dan Smilkstein’s May 2019 expedition to the Moose’s Tooth provided breathtaking views of the Alaska Range. 42 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

o Exp sure STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT TREDWAY Editor’s note: This is a significantly shortened excerpt of Tredway’s original story. Read the full story at SteamboatMagazine.com.

THE MOOSE’S TOOTH, ALASKA RANGE, MAY 2019 I could not have felt tinier and more exposed. My crampons were biting into a 250-foot, steep snowfield balanced on top of a 150-foot granite cliff, with still more slope below. l balanced on the perch, like an ant atop a giant ice cream cone.

Glancing back, l watched my partner, Dan Smilkstein, swinging his ice tools into the slope and kicking crampons to give him purchase. The ever-present Alaska sun was reaching its low point for the day, tickling the mountains to our south, despite it being 5 a.m. Beneath us, on the Root Canal Glacier, our tent was a yellow dot on the white expanse. To this point we had simul-climbed – moving at the same time while tied into the same rope. We had not placed any protection. Should one of us slip, we would depend on the other to dig his axe in deeply and brace us. On a slope this steep, it is not something we want to test. The chances of stopping a falling climber are a crapshoot. l fumbled with my harness to ready my belay device for Dan’s ascent. It was gone. The belay device was nowhere to be seen. Panic surged, and a frenzied search resulted in nothing. In a shaken voice, l told Dan. Dead silence, both of us weighing the implications of my mistake. We had battled to get to this point, just to have this mishap stop us?

Dan Smilkstein, Matt Tredway’s climbing partner, trains for the Moose’s Tooth climb on a steep wall of ice in the Wind River Range, Wyoming.

STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 43

Planning and preparation for this May expedition had started early in February, with a clear objective of the Moose’s Tooth, an iconic peak in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge – one of the most intimidating landscapes on earth. We had studied everything we could. The line we chose, named Ham and Eggs, consists of 18 pitches and 2,900 feet, leading almost directly to the summit of the peak. Our route would be a technical one, too steep and remote to hope for immediate assistance should something go wrong. Due to variable weather conditions, we would need a near-perfect day or more to complete the climb. Even an inch of snow on our route could lead to an avalanche. We trained hard for the expedition, but perhaps our greatest preparation was not work at all, but elevation. We live at the same height as the base camp, and our local ski mountain, Mount Werner, has a summit at the same elevation as the summit of the Moose’s Tooth. More than 70 times during the winter, we put on skis, placed weight in our packs and skinned to the top. Trips to ice climbing meccas in Cody, Wyoming; Lake City, Ouray and Silverton honed our ice skills. Regular climbing gym visits and weight training sessions prepared us for the physical demands of the climb. Equipment is always a critical component of these trips, and each trip is different. Isolation calls for special consideration, including a satellite phone. The possibility of being stranded by weather is very real, thus food considerations are important. We packed extra items to reduce the threats potentially posed to us by being stranded.

In addition to communication devices and food, we packed sturdy tents, warm sleeping bags and specialized clothing to allow for wild temperature swings, from sub-zero at night to a solar cooker in the glaring light of midday. We packed half our gear in sleds that we would pull, and the remainder in backpacks. At over 100 pounds each, it made for daunting loads. We checked and tested our equipment repeatedly – once dropped off, we have what we have, and it has to be right the first time. Anchorage was still light when we land, despite the time of 10:30 p.m. It was exhilarating. The long days promised the possibility of climbing late, and not fumbling around with headlamps all the time. A call forward to Talkeetna Air taxi the next morning yielded our first bit of dubious news. The planes had been grounded, as access into the Denali area had been hampered by spring snowstorms. This trend was anticipated to last days. A long cue of climbers, all anticipating a Denali climb, had effectively clogged the town of Talkeetna. As the wait drew out for days, we entertained thoughts of hopping back on a plane and heading somewhere else to get our climbing fix. Sitting in hotels with fully loaded sleds and packs was not what we had in mind. But, staying positive, we booked a shuttle to Talkeetna. Once there, we dumped our gear in a storage shed behind the Roadhouse Inn, and checked in to a dormitory-style room. With us was a young, energetic Japanese guy with nerves on edge. His plan was to attempt to solo Denali. I was whisked back to 15 years ago when l did just that. The other expeditions waiting in town oozed anticipation. Ironic that an active sport that requires so much training offers up the possibility of mundane downtime, waiting

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Matt Tredway and Dan Smilksteinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s camping setup on the Root Canal Glacier, in the midst of a 5-day storm.

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Dan Smilkstein climbs a steep pitch on the Moose’s Tooth with the expedition’s ski tracks visible on the Root Canal Glacier below.

for proper conditions. How can you possibly train for that? Airplanes are the transport of choice for climbers going to the Root Canal Glacier and the Moose’s Tooth, though there are only a couple pilots from Talkeetna Air Taxi that have the balls to land their planes there. Outfitted with skis just above the wheels, these planes and their pilots are distinctive. Conditions must be perfect to execute this landing, and stories abound of climbers waiting out storms for weeks before extraction. Another dire forecast convinced us to check in to the Roadhouse for an additional day. A long, rainy night ensued. Groups that had already purchased return tickets began to feel the time squeeze, before even stepping foot on the mountain. Just as Talkeetna’s population balloon seemed close to popping, the sun peeked out, and a flurry of activity brought us to our plane.

Staring at the crevasse at my feet, l was already sure what had happened. I removed my pack and frantically searched for a backup belay device. I always carry one for this exact scenario with my Everything Outdoor Steamboat kids. I have hauled an extra for days, countless miles, yet I didn’t have one. “Holy shit, you need to talk me down right now, l’m freaking,” l implored Dan. Silence. I thought through the implications. Well, nothing big I guess – just safely belay my partner up and avoid a 3,000foot free fall as l rappel myself down. I was rattled. 46 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

But this wouldn’t shut us down. I could go old-school with the belay, using a munter hitch (a simple, adjustable knot) for the necessary control of the rope as Dan led pitches. When l would lead, it wouldn’t be a problem. After a bumpy patch, Dan started out. This rock pitch was imposing. Rising up from the steep snow, you feel much more air beneath you than is typical for a first pitch. A recent storm’s snow accumulation still choked the cracks. Dan found a likely spot for his axe, inserted it, and clipped the rope. Placing his foot on a snow patch on one side, it suddenly gave way and there was an immediate tug on the rope. Cam inserted into the crack, the system snapped into place, and the slip put us in the present. We exchanged glances, and he started up again. Game on. Ahead of us was the first of several cruxes. The steep snow led up to a 15-foot rock chimney capped with a foot-thick lens of ice. A difficult mixed pitch. Still rattled, we restacked the ropes and Dan started up. I had seen him lead horrific rock pitches and scary ice. He wasn’t afraid, but l was, and I was just watching. Moments later, he moved up the steep couloir towards another anchor. It was my turn as the rope snugged on my harness. Following the same moves, l started up. One swing, fueled by adrenaline, stuck. l pulled my feet out, scratching for purchase, and swung my other axe. Slowly I advanced my feet to nothing in particular and pushed. I had created a sort of wedge, with pressure on both sides. Using the static force of my feet, l locked off my left and wiggled my right tool out of its hold, and

swung it to advance. I was so thankful I was not on the lead. Repeat, inch up, repeat, until I was able to kick a front point into the ice cap. I was through. I took a moment to breathe and get a grip on wild emotion. I climbed to the belay perch Dan had established, and continued up the couloir, now leading the next pitch. After hours of climbing, we had arrived at the fabled crux. The ice was nonexistent for the first 20 feet, then incredibly thin to the top. In most places, it looked sublimated and rotten. It was doubtful it would take screws, and the rock didn’t look like it would take gear. The rock that would need to be scaled to even reach the ice looked loose and flakey. If l were to get that high, I doubt l could find anything to lower from in the event of it being impassable. I was hoping for better news from Dan’s viewpoint on the other side of the granite spur that split the couloir. “This shit isn’t in over here!” l yelled, “The bottom is out, and the top looks like opaque swiss cheese…what do you have?” He relayed that he saw a passable rock section that extended up for the first 50 feet. By passable, it would mean climbing difficult rock terrain with crampons and ice tools. Expected. The crux was a mushroom of snow at the top of the pitch that overhung the entire section, possibly a result of the past week’s storms. Unexpected. We knew the snow wouldn’t hold our entire body weight hanging on an axe. We could possibly get to the top, and tunnel through, but what if the entire mushroom fell? It would take us out. Both of the options had serious pitfalls. Of the problems, none was greater than the fact the protection was thin or nonexistent. A fall here would be long, and all the impact would transfer to the belayer and the anchor that we would both be attached to.

A Canadian climbing tragedy from the previous month played out in the back of our minds. A long quiet period, as we each scanned the vertical puzzle above us. Could we climb it? Yes, but we would be flipping a coin as to a potential fall. And a fall in that place was not acceptable. The thought of lowering my injured partner, or him lowering me, down a few thousand feet of ice was enough. We lingered, celebrated the view, took off the heavy packs, ate and drank our bottles down. Soon the tentacles of cold overcame our previously exercise-heated bodies, and it was time to move. Downward, Dan used his belay device, and me the doublemunter. It was slow. In 200-foot blocks, we rappelled. On our last rappel, I watched Dan descend down the steep snow face and disappear over the last cliff band. Moments later, a huge wet-slab avalanche followed him over the cliff. There was a terrific roar, followed by silence. I screamed down to him, “Are you OK?!” No response. I quickly tied in and descended our red ropes. Down 150 feet, tucked in the back of a small enclave, Dan had found a small spot to hide and was unscathed. Had the timing been off by just seconds, he would have felt the full force of the slide. Once back at our skis, we coiled ropes in silence, regrouped our gear, loaded our packs and skied toward camp. We reached camp feeling the full effects of the day as our adrenaline surge subsided. We would spend days reclimbing the Moose’s Tooth in our minds. Slowly packing the nonessentials, we did lots of work before crawling into our bags. Here on the Ruth, there are no forms of life; it’s a world of snow, ice and rock, cold and harsh. Tomorrow we would be flying back to the green.

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The weather clears to reveal the Moose’s Tooth towering over Matt Tredway and Dan Smilkstein’s tent.

The day started out clear, and we packed quickly. Loading into packs and sleds, we skied down to the snowy runway. The time was 10:30 a.m., and a noon departure had been discussed. By 11:30 a.m., blue sky had disappeared, and snow began to fall. At noon, l started to consider where l might put my tent up for another night. Landing on the glacier requires, among other things, line of sight, and a window to escape. Years previous, l had arrived for extraction at Denali, only to wait days for the weather to open up. Conditions were deteriorating by the moment, and the wind was picking up. I quietly put our chances at less than 50%. When l saw the plane bust out of the clouds, l could not have been more surprised. Elated was an understatement. Many people, climbers and non-climbers alike, are so fixated on a summit that it becomes the only acceptable outcome. “Did you stand on top?” they ask, and should l reveal, “Not this time,” a look of disappointment washes over their faces. It is difficult to explain that these expeditions are not a waste of time. Being in the mountains and putting it on the line is a success. The summit is only a few minutes of a massive experience. Exhilarating? Yes. A goal? Of course. Worth taking fatal chances for? Hmmm...the phrase, “There are old climbers, and bold climbers, but none old and bold,” rings true.

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 49

BY DAN GREESON

You can see them coming from miles away, a cloud of dust kicked up in the distance. As they get closer, the thunder of their hooves shakes the earth. They disappear behind a ridge, then reappear at the top a moment later, bands of horses each led by a stallion. These are the wild horses of Sand Wash Basin. 50 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

THOMAS D. MANGELSEN

UnTamed In 2019, Tom Mangelsen, Todd Savalox and Nadja Rider visited the basin, 50 miles west of Craig, to spend two days photographing these wild horses. Rider, an expert on the Sand Wash horses and a volunteer for the nonprofit Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin, led the expedition. Mangelsen, the legendary photographer who captured photos of Yellowstone’s grizzlies among thousands of his other well-known shots, employed the help of Savalox, who manages the Mangelsen Images of Nature gallery in Steamboat Springs. “Tom called me the week before, asked what’s been going on in Sand Wash Basin, and said he’s been thinking about those horses,” Savalox says. Within days, Savalox and Mangelsen had finalized plans for an expedition.

Todd Savalox recounts the story behind the Thomas D. Mangelsen photograph “Legends of the Plains”: “Tom was shooting into the sun as that band of horses had just stopped to wait for their turn at the watering hole, kicking up dust from trotting in. Tom said to me a lot of photographers don’t like to shoot into the sun, but for him it can make for some of the most dramatic lighting.”

The high mountain desert climate of the Sand Wash Basin is extremely harsh. “It’s amazing that the horses can even survive out there given the conditions,” Savalox says. The hot, dry environment requires the horses to be much less active during the extremities of mid-day and watering hole visits in the morning and evening, so Mangelsen made sure to be ready for shooting at those times. This meant the trio had to get up before dawn to leave their home-base in Craig by 6 a.m., and return well after dark at 11 p.m. One day in the basin, the group’s car got a flat tire and they had to change it in the mid-day heat. “It was brutal,” Savalox chuckles.

The horses, being natural herd animals, move in “bands,” which vary in size from about 3-15 horses each. These bands stand separately on the ridge surrounding the watering hole, waiting until they get the go-ahead from the leader of the group – the band stallion – that it’s their turn to drink. “I didn’t have much affinity for horses until I went out there,” Savalox says, “but when you go out there, you see how family-oriented and loyal these horses are.” The 250-square-mile Sand Wash Basin has a wild horse population of over 800, which the Bureau of Land Management STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 51

NADJA RIDER

Stallions Dragon and Picasso in battle â&#x20AC;&#x201C; conflicts between stallions are common in Sand Wash Basin due to horse overpopulation.

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considers overpopulated for a piece of land this size. “These “It’s not just the horses but Sand Wash Basin as a whole that horses over-populate very quickly if the population isn’t draws me out West,” Rider says. “The solitude of the basin, controlled,” Rider explains. Wild mares foal every year, and combined with the beauty of the wild horses, is simply good though these horses once roamed through Colorado, Utah and for my soul.” Mangelsen got the shots he was looking for, and Wyoming, their range has shrunk drastically over the years due Savalox treasured the opportunity to shoot with the iconic to human development. “Now they are restricted to smaller photographer. “Being there, you get to see Tom in his element,” parcels of land, so managing the population on those smaller Savalox says. “You see Tom’s pics in the gallery, but you don’t parcels is even more critical,” Rider says. One way the public can help understand the amount of time with the horse overpopulation is by and effort he puts in, waiting adopting them but, “As we know, that in the elements: harsh weather, is not an option for many,” Rider says. cold, wind, rain. He is a great The wild horses’ overpopulation storyteller, which is important leads to a high number of conflicts when you’re waiting around all as mustangs brutally fight each other day together to get the perfect and protect their bands – sometimes shot. He’s fun to be around, but sustaining wounds and broken bones in when he sees a photographic the process. “Anytime you have stallions opportunity, his mindset close to each other, there are conflicts,” completely changes and he’s Rider says. “The other problem when zoned in. Tom’s best images are you have overpopulation is you get when he has a picture in mind groups of ‘bachelor’ stallions. They pick and wants to capture that – on the bands and roam in gangs trying Picasso is Sand Wash Basin’s most well-known horse, those are his most meaningful due to his eye-catching coloring. to steal the mares.” ones, too.” By far the most famous of the Sand Wash Basin horses is As Colorado’s wild places become fewer and farther between, Picasso, an older, tri-colored wild pinto stallion. Picasso has Tom Mangelsen’s photos capture and preserve this piece of the garnered a fanbase due to his striking, highly recognizable truly Wild West. coloring and his age – he is approximately 30 years old. Picasso’s fame has reached the point that Colorado news networks have Find more Sand Wash Basin information and resources at SteamboatMagazine.com. traveled to the area specifically to report on him.

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STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 53

Wolf

Return of the

Will voters restore the call of the wild? BY JENNIE LAY

Wolves were made for walking. That’s just what they do. “And they cover enormous distances,” says Aaron Bott, a sixth-generation farmer/rancher and wildlife biologist who studies wolves in the intermountain West.

After wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995, they meandered into bordering states. Then they sauntered farther afield. Eventually, lone wolves started popping up in Northwest Colorado. “Since we reintroduced wolves into the Northern Rockies, we’ve had wolves come down through Utah, through Colorado, through California, into Oregon and into Washington, even one wolf probably making it all the way down to Texas,” Bott says. Colorado Parks & Wildlife officials verified a black wolf caught on video in February 2007 in North Park; a gray one from Montana poisoned in February 2009 near Rifle; a black one from Wyoming camera-trapped and radio-transmitting in April 2015 in North Park, then a gray one shot near Kremmling that same month; and a single male wolf from Wyoming’s Snake River Pack, known as 1084-M, which surfaced during the summer of 2019 in Jackson County, just over the Park Range from Steamboat Springs. As of June, CPW pilots were continuing to follow 1084’s movements and communicating regularly with private landowners in the area. Still, Colorado lacked a confirmed pack with a sustainable presence. Until now.

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They’re (kind of) back

In January, barely a month after a wolf reintroduction initiative made the cut for Colorado’s November statewide ballot, wildlife officers confirmed an eyewitness account from hunters who had seen a pack of wolves last fall. On that winter day, the biologists were roused by distinct wolf howls as they investigated a scavenged elk carcass near Irish Canyon in northern Moffat

County. Peering through binoculars, they spent 20 minutes observing six wolves that were about two miles away. When they moved in for a closer look the wolves had moved on, but they found large paw tracks in the snow measuring up to 5.5 inches. Again, in March, wildlife officers encountered the wolf pack in action, spotting six wolves just a few miles farther south of STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE MAGAZINE || OUTDOORS OUTDOORS 2020 2020 || 55 55 STEAMBOAT

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the scenic and environmentally sensitive canyon filled with ancient petroglyphs. Gov. Jared Polis addressed the historic sightings in a manner that reflects a growing sentiment among citizens in this deep purple state: many people want to live with wolves again. In May, a Colorado State University poll indicated 84% of Coloradans would vote yes on reintroduction. “While lone wolves have visited our state periodically, including last fall, this is very likely the first pack to call our state home since the 1930s. I am honored to welcome our canine friends back to Colorado after their long absence,” Polis said.

ESA & Colorado’s wolf initiative

Currently, wolves are protected in Colorado under the federal Endangered Species Act, which puts all aspects of wolf management under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whether wolves are released here or happen to wander across the state line. In fact, in 1974 wolves were LamarSt at i onCr ossi ng among the first species Af f or dabl eMul t i f ami l y to receive ESA protection. On March 6, 2019, acting Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt announced a proposal to remove ESA protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48, transferring authority for their management to the states. The proposed rule will undoubtedly be litigated. Meanwhile, momentum for wolf recovery is moving at high speed toward the 2020 election in Colorado. Initiative 107, titled “Restoration of Grey Wolves,” will be on the November ballot. Michael Phillips, a conservation biologist who is a Montana state senator and director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, addressed a group of conservation professionals in Boulder during the fall signature campaign to get 107 on the ballot. He touts western Colorado’s 17 million acres of public land and the state’s 700,000 deer and elk as a critical piece of a conservation puzzle. He gets excited about making a continental connection – St eamboatSpr i ngs| Engl ewood| ( 970)8791976| Cal conci . com | re-linking wolves from Mexico to Alaska. Wolves are the missing voice, he proclaims.

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“Why does wolf restoration struggle? It’s the mythical wolf,” Phillips explains. “The real wolf is hard to see through the mythical haze. The myth is as wrong as it is strong. And we are trying to kill it.” Phillips judges Colorado’s carrying capacity for wolves to be greater than any other state, expertise he gleaned working as field coordinator for the red wolf recovery program and the founding project leader for wolf restoration to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Historic loss & environmental gain

Wolves are highly social creatures, native to Colorado. They dominated the landscape until they were hunted and trapped out of existence. As many as 2 million gray wolves once roamed the western U.S. along with bison, elk, deer, moose and pronghorn. Manifest Destiny pushed European settlers with imported sheep and cattle into their range, destroying vast herds of native wildlife along the way. This put ranchers in competition with hungry wolves. A government-sanctioned program of wolf extermination hit full force in the early 1900s, and American wolves were scarce by the 1920s.

The howl was silenced in Colorado with the last known wolf kill near the New Mexico border in 1945. “Colorado has a lot of fantastic terrain. The topography along with its large game herds makes it a very suitable state for wolves to roam once again,” says Bott, who did his graduate research with the Yellowstone Wolf Project. “Even with the large human population in Colorado, there are still a lot of public lands that wolf populations could sustainably live on.” Trophic cascade, the effect of a top predator’s presence improving habitat quality and species viability all the way down the food chain, is often cited as a prime motivation for wolf reintroduction. Bott says the phenomenon is highly sensationalized and oversimplified, especially in the popular media. Wolves are large predators, and large predators are essential to having healthy ecosystems, but it’s more than just the wolf. “You have cougars and you have bears and all of these animals are pulling a lot of weight and they are doing a lot of good for the environment,” Bott says. Ultimately, don’t expect to see the dramatic landscape changes that happened in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley all over Colorado, STEAMBOAT MAGAZINE | OUTDOORS 2020 | 57

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but “to restore an apex predator to a landscape that has been without them, is going to be ecologically wonderful,” Bott says.

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The commission must pay fair compensation to livestock owners for any losses caused by wolves.

Ranching with predators

So now we have confirmed wolves who arrived naturally in Colorado, including a single pack. And, if it passes, Initiative 107 will require the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to create and carry out a plan to reintroduce and manage gray wolves by the end of 2023, too. Colorado’s state legislature would be required to fund the reintroduction program, and the commission must pay fair compensation to livestock owners for any losses caused by wolves. Gray wolves would be reintroduced west of the Continental Divide in a location yet to be determined. Wolves are highly adaptable and they can disperse great distances, and they have the capacity of living in our backyard. It’s really up to our levels of tolerance where we allow wolves, where can we have wolves, and what areas are and aren’t appropriate for wolves to live,” Bott says. Bott’s family settled in Utah in the 1840s, and he’s deeply ingrained with multi-generational farmers, ranchers and hunters. “I definitely understand and respect the complexities of coexisting with large carnivores,” he says. He points out that while there is science to help deter wolves, livestock safety is never 100% guaranteed. “Wolf depredation on livestock is not astronomical, but if it’s happening to you as an individual, it’s very personal. Ranching is a

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A pair of bison casually watches as the Druid wolf pack passes by on a sunny winter day in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley.

more often these days, especially at night. They’ve installed game cameras to watch what’s prowling and a large commercialgrade spotlight to scope the herd from their deck. Spotlights are mounted on both the ATV and Troy’s saddle. “Wolves are smart and cunning. And it doesn’t take a lot to outsmart a cow,” Adonna says. “It’s best to keep our approach and patrols fresh, to not be repetitive and do the same things over and over again ...We have to be creative and change it up so the wolves have to stay on their toes.”

Lure of the watch

Pro naturalist Colby Brokvist has spent five years as a wolf guide, leading people to find Canis lupus with Natural Habitat Adventures, the conservation travel partner to World Wildlife Fund. He knows a lot about what it’s like to be in the presence

Photo: Tim Murphy

lifestyle. I think a lot of urbanites don’t realize it’s a lifestyle that people choose. “A rancher does what he or she does because they love it. Not because they’re going to get rich. And so, if there is any depredation that they could have prevented, they’re going to feel sore about that,” Bott says. Local ranchers Adonna and Troy Allen have already shifted how they run their operation. They’ve been educating themselves and preparing for years. “We’re in a community where there are a lot of multi-generational families. A lot of the ranchers here weren’t surprised. They look with a really longterm perspective, thinking about how they can get their ranch to the next generation,” Adonna says. The Allens are keeping their cows closer to the house when they’re calving, and herd patrol is a priority. They check on cows

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go out and find a wolf is extremely difficult.” Chance encounters, like the one hunters had in Moffatt County last fall, are fleeting. In the Northern Rockies, wolf watching coexists with hunting, but wildlife viewing is documented to bring in significantly more income to states, if not all individuals. Of course, not everyone benefits monetarily from wolf dollars – as big game hunters and ranchers will attest. This begs a question: Might a healthy wolf population herald a new tourism opportunity for a corner of Colorado that’s being hit by falling oil prices, closing coal mines and shuttering power plants? After all, a culture of hunting and recreation, with a deep knowledge of the landscape, runs deep in this region. Brokvist says yes: “The trick with Colorado wolves is that we don’t really know their patterns A wolf with her pups at a den site right now. There’s one pack. We don’t know how they’re going to do. It’d be risky to set up a whole tourism of wolves – and how hard it is to actually see one, let alone the industry around that. Another challenge is whether the wolves small chance of casually bumping into one. Yellowstone, with its are protected, because only then is it safe that people know strict protections and abundant prey, makes it one of the world’s where they are. Everything is complicated with a lot of layers, best places for wolf watching. This makes the search seem easier, but that is one big potential opportunity that nobody really but it is singularly unique. In truth, wolves are wary of people, brings up.” they move around, and they have large territories. They look out Jean Lawrence is a veteran Steamboat Springs-based wildlife for each other, communicate a lot, and know where to go and biologist who also guides wolf watching trips for Natural Habitat not to go. in Yellowstone. One of her more poignant wolf experiences “They don’t want to be disturbed. You have to really put in happened close to home, when she spotted two wolves near a lot of time,” Brokvist advises. “For the average person to just

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Coalmont, at the back door of the Zirkel Wilderness, in spring 2019. She was out searching for a sage grouse lek with local cowboy Ray Heid. It was pre-dawn and even with her well-trained eye and her high-powered Swarovski scope, “they were spooky,” she says. The pair ran off quickly, but she understands why they might elicit fear, and sometimes they’re mistakenly shot. “You need optics. You definitely need optics,” she says. “You’re typically looking at wolves that are one or two miles away.” Lawrence knows her Coalmont experience is unusual for Colorado. She says Yellowstone has exceptional wolf-watching because it’s protected, wide open and there’s a high density of prey. By contrast, here in Northwest Colorado, our wilderness areas are forested, which is going to make wolf-watching trickier, but ultimately it may be better for wolf safety and security. “I’ve had people cry,” Lawrence says, sharing the emotional reactions she has witnessed to wolf and other wildlife encounters. She says people often come to see wolves and are surprised at what else they discover. It’s an ecosystem, and she leads with that approach. “You need all the components to make it whole. I think that’s what people see. Especially near a carcass, when all the wolves’ behaviors of hierarchy come into play.”

November 2020: the definitive vote

One way to view November’s election is that it’s the most inclusive approach possible–the will of the people instead of the long arm of the federal government coming in and mandating wolves. “We already know they’re coming. How do we make the best of the situation?” Allen asks. She hopes Colorado’s voters will

consider the ranching perspective when casting votes this fall. “I think it’s a viable debate on whether or not we should be hands-on or hands-off,” Bott says, noting that one pack’s appearance is by no means a recovered population. “Frankly, if we’re hands-off and just wait for them to come down, how many decades are we going to have to wait? But if you manually bring them in, you’re really going to piss off a lot of people who already hate the state and the federal government.” Lawrence and Brokvist tend to agree. They both point out that unmarred wilderness, solitude, clean air, healthy forests and clean water are things people in Colorado already believe in. We all know these are scarce and precious resources, and that makes our connection to wolves that much closer. “We idealize the American West …There’s no other place in the world that looks like it, but we’ve over-civilized it,” Brokvist argues. He says the things we celebrate about the West are watered down at this point – until you get into these areas that have wolves. Because wolves don’t show up just anywhere. They’re looking for prey and they need room to roam. They thrive in whole ecosystems where timber resources and clean water come from, and the food chain thrives. “If you have wolves moving in and they’re able to make it, you know that forest is healthy,” Brokvist says. “That’s an indication that we’re being good stewards of the American West … and I know that those are the really special spots.”

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A Yampatika guide leads a hike in the Flat Tops Wilderness.

CONNECTING People to the Land How do you bring together concepts like geology, history and prehistory, wildlife, fire and water management, atmospheric conditions, land preservation, symbiotic biological relationships and ecosystems under one educational program? Yampatika looks to tackle that riddle this summer with a new set of hikes called the “Land Legacy Series.” “It’s all about educating people about connections – connecting people to our public lands and all the pieces that form them,” says Lexi Stine, Yampatika’s director of adult programs. Stine has a background in outdoor leadership and education, working the last 10 seasons with the U.S. Forest Service in Minnesota, California, Arizona and Colorado, and is a guide on many Land Legacy hikes. 62 | ONLINE AT STEAMBOATMAGAZINE.COM

“The goal of these hikes is simple: things that we think of as separate and different are actually one in the same,” Stine says. “By educating people about these connections, our hope is to create a clearer big picture for people and inspire better stewardship of the whole.” Stine hopes that by emphasizing the unity of natural systems, people will be more likely to see the wide-reaching impacts of our actions in the outdoors. “You have to care about all of it; not just certain aspects like the river or the forest,” she says. “It’s all interconnected.” One highlight in this series will be the Mad Creek hike, slated for Saturday, Aug. 29. “The geological and historical factors are rich there,” Stine says. “People can get up-close and really examine those aspects.” Yampatika will partner with guides from Historic Routt County and the Tread of Pioneers Museum to discuss the history of the Mad Creek Barn and the surrounding area. The “Wood Wide Web” hike, which was held in June, is a perfect example of how the Land Legacy Series ties different natural systems together. This hike explored the relationship between underground fungal networks and the root systems of trees. “The trees and fungus are able to communicate danger to each other and trade resources with each other through this fungal network,” Stine says. “The fungus acts as its own separate

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system, but also Sept. 12 Tread Left Behind – Local serves as a sort of Archaeological Exploring ‘broker’ with the Sept. 18 Fall Foliage trees – when one tree dies, the fungus transports the nutrients of the dead tree to all the others, regardless of species.” Other hikes include “Astronomy for Families” led by Colorado Mountain College physical science professor Paul McCudden, and “Playing with Wildfire,” which explores the contributing factors and effects of a wildfire. “I’m very excited about the ‘Playing with Wildfire’ hike,” says Stine, who worked several years in Northern California as a wildland firefighter. Regardless of the hike, Stine looks forward to educating people about the outdoors. “I’m always really excited about these programs,” Stine says. “I love teaching people about what they’re actually looking at when they’re in the outdoors. It’s truly an honor to tell people these stories, and to see that glimmer of hope and wonderment in their eyes when they hear them.” Yampatika follows all current COVID safety protocols during hikes. Spaces are limited for each hike, so visit Yampatika.org to reserve your spot, or to view the rest of Yampatika’s year-round calendar of events and activities.

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Why Stop Here?

Learn how to mix your own Blackberry Whiskey Smash and other cocktails with “Mythology Distillery Cocktail Hour” on SteamboatMagazine.com.

Why Stop at the Last Page? Dive into the wide world of Ski Town Media content on our websites and social media accounts. Happy Hour from Home

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Become your own personal bartender and head to SteamboatMagazine.com to see a selection of cocktail recipes from Mythology Distillery. “Steamboat Cocktail Hour” offers an extensive cocktail menu, listing all the needed ingredients so you can make these delicious cocktails right from home. Summer is in full swing, and Steamboat Springs is coming back to life. Practice yoga with locals, take an art class in the gardens, explore nature on a guided hike or participate in a virtual bike ride. Visit SteamboatMagazine.com to see the latest events happening online and around town.

Local venues and businesses have been creative in adapting to the challenges presented by 2020. As businesses begin to reopen and the pace of life begins to pick up again in Steamboat, visit SteamboatMagazine.com to keep up with what Steamboat businesses are currently offering. Times have been tough, and for many, stresses are at an all-time high. Maybe you’re looking for a new recipe, or need new ideas on how to handle these day-to-day sources of anxiety. Head to SteamboatMagazine.com and read up on all of the recipes, remedies and lifestyle tips that the Wellness Blog has to offer.

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